Should we pray for or against persecution?
It is not uncommon for Western Christians, if they pray anything regarding persecution, to pray for an end to the persecution of the church in closed countries (some would say that 1 Tim 2 supports this kind of prayer). Occasionally, you’ll meet someone who says they pray for persecution in America, out of a desire to see the church of God in a comfortable, affluent society receive some of the refining that it desperately needs (see, e.g. 1 Peter 1:6-8, Rev 3:15ff).
So which is it? Should we pray for persecution, or against it? Perhaps both. I used to have a pastor who (if I recall correctly) said that he prayed for comfort for the afflicted and affliction for the comfortable. That seems to me to be a reasonable balance with Biblical support behind it (e.g. 2 Cor 1:3:7, Amos 6, Luke 7:31ff, Micah 2-4, etc.).
However, I must say that if ever I did specifically pray for persecution, I don’t anymore. It is not something I would want to wish on anybody. However, I do pray for things which I know very well will most certainly lead to persecution. For example, I pray that God would reveal and resensitize my conscience and yours for any ways in which we fail to truly and completely live godly lives in Christ Jesus. I don’t pray for persecution, I pray for godly living; but I know from the Bible that genuine, wholehearted godly living will result in persecution (2 Tim 3:12). Therefore, short of the final return of Jesus Christ, I also have a very hard time praying that persecution would end entirely, because if the Bible is true (it is) then that would contradict my prayer for greater and greater godly living.
Brother Nick has provided the following quote:
We have also come to understand that the past thirty years of suffering, persecution and torture for the house churches in China were all part of God’s training for us. The Lord has perfectly fitted us to go as missionaries to the Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu worlds.
Once I spoke in the West and a Christian told me, “I’ve been praying for years that the Communist government in China would collapse, so Christians can live in freedom.” This is not what we pray! We never pray against our government or call down curses on them. Instead, we have learned that God is in control of both our own lives and the government we live under. Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, “The government will be on his shoulders.” Isaiah 9:6.
God has used China’s government for his own purposes, moulding and shaping his children as he sees fit. Instead of focusing our prayers against any political system, we pray that regardless of what happens to us, we will be pleasing to God.
Don’t pray for the persecution to stop! Wed shouldn’t pray for a lighter load to carry, but a stronger back to endure! Then the world will see that God is with us, empowering us to live in a way that reflects his love and power.
That is true freedom!
There is little that any of the Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu countries can do to us that we haven’t already experienced in China. The worst they can do is kill us, but all that means is that we will be promoted into the glorious presence of our Lord for all eternity.“The Heavenly Man: the remarkable true story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun” pp. 286-287
So, in summary I have offered two suggestions. Either pray for and against persecution, or pray neither for nor against persecution — focus rather on praying for godliness in whatever situation the Sovereign Lord has ordained for us. Either choice, it seems to me, provides a balance that is lacking in any single, one-sided view of persecution.